About the only electric-specific claim made in that article has to do with the "long tailpipe" issue. So f@cking unfair.
When people say to me, "I guess your bike is coal-powered," I tell them - "Well to wheels - google it."
Ignoring the fact that I could power my bike with 100% alternative energy (wind, solar), even if I charge it using electricity from a coal-fired plant, it's still putting out fewer emissions per kilowatt-mile than any gas-powered vehicle. And that's before the well to wheels calculation, which is only fair to include if you're going to pin the coal on my bike. Fine, follow the petroleum from the ground to the pump (uses electricity) to the storage facility to the refinery (uses a LOT of electricity) to the ship or truck (emits plenty of crap into the air) that brings it, eventually, to the gas station, and then measure the tailpipe emissions.
Let's add in: no one goes to war over windmills (except Don Quixote) or solar panels, or, let's be real, coal. Petroleum is the root cause of much of what's wrong in our world. Yeah, I use it, too, but I smile every time I get on my Brammo because, damn it, I'm saving the world.
